Pet peeve while doing loops around Montebello - guy I passed jumped onto my back wheel.  He didn't ask, didn't make it known that he was there.  I didn't know he was there until 5 or 10 minutes later.  Am I the only one who thinks this is a) rude and b) unsafe?  I ride differently with someone on my back wheel, I would be more consistant, wouldn't decided to sit up/let off suddenly etc that may cause problems with him back there.  Needless to say, as soon as I noticed him, I looked back, gave him the ole stink eye and dropped the hammer for a lap.  He tried to keep up but couldn't.  It was a personal victory for the day   Also, its how my HR got up to 163 on a "recovery" spin...

Blarg.  Pretty much sums it up.  Run in ocean city.  I suck at running lately.  Can't run after a bike, even for just a couple miles.  It was pretty hot/humid, but with the effort I put out, I should have been in the 7:30 range.  When I actually tried to drop it to the 7:30 range, I had no gas...lasted maybe 5 minutes.
 

Getting very excited for my first HIM.  I really don't know what my strategy should be, so I'll solicit advice from anyone who stumbles across my blog.  I told myself I didn't want to do a HIM until I could get under 5 hrs.  Seemed like a solid goal, mostly because it was an even number and it will be possible for me to get there.  I spent awhile on only sprints before jumping up to Oly/"50" races.  I'm not one to want to just finish, I've waited to up the distance until I thought I could be competitive at that level (now I won't be close to winning anything in a 70.3, but it’s a competitive thing with time).  Anyway, I signed up for this race a long time ago, and while drunk.  Not my best idea, and also somewhat impaired in my ability to judge if I’d be ready (but it was cheaper…apparently my inner Jew shines with whiskey).  Anyway, I’m certainly ready to complete this race, and I’m 68.2689492% sure I can do under 5 hrs.  On the other hand, I’m also not where I want to be (long bike fitness and long run after long bike fitness), and am worried that going for 5hrs (which I will go all out for if I decide to try) will blow me up and I’ll be much, much worse.  I’m just not where I want to be for a half-iron at this point, I felt much better about my first Oly and “50” than I do now.  Part of me really wished I hadn’t signed up, and I took the extra time to really be ready for the next one I’m signed up for in October.  I don’t think I’m ready for 13.1 miles after a 56 bike at HIM race intensity.

 

So I have 2 options:

1)      Go for it – go for my HR and paces that the guidelines say I can do (i.e. xx bpm under LT for the bike) and same for the run.  If I blow up, I’ll end up walking and miserable.  If I can do it, I’m confident I’ll hit my goal, and very happy.  However, if I do the full HIM intensities/HRs and I fall short, it will be a failure to me.

2)      Use as a learning race.  Hold back slightly on the bike and early run.  Finish without blowing up and use the race as a baseline for the next, where I will go for my goal.  I don’t like this idea because I didn’t pay $250 for a training day.  I’ll also kick myself if I finish and know I could have gone faster, and play “what if” games with myself.   I can’t fail with this strategy, but I certainly can’t win either.

Last year, I may have said that I’ll be able to bust something special out on race day, that I’ll push harder and go faster, but the past year has taught me it isn’t true.  I’m only as fast as my training has made me, nothing more.

 

What do I do?

 

PS – If you think I have a bad attitude or the wrong attitude about this, I probably won’t disagree with you, but it’s what I’m working with at the moment.